Sometimes it feels as if the more we talk, the less we are heard. But in groundbreaking research, Andrew Newberg, M.D., and Mark Robert Waldman have discovered a powerful strategy called Compassionate Communication that allows two brains to work together as one. In twelve clear steps, Compassionate Communication actually changes our brain structure — as well as the brain of the person we are talking to — in a way that helps establish a bond between people. In this unique state — free from conflict and distrust — we can communicate more effectively, listen more deeply, collaborate without effort, and succeed more quickly at any task. Using data collected from MBA students, couples in therapy, caregivers, and brain scans, Newberg and Waldman have seen again and again that Compassionate Communication can transform a difficult conversation into a deeply satisfying one, literally in a matter of a few minutes.Whether you are negotiating with your boss or your employees, arguing with your spouse, or coping with your kids, Compassionate Communication is a simple and unbeatable way to achieve a win-win dialogue to help you reach your goals. With its clear prescription and proven results, Words Can Change Your Brain will change how you think and speak to virtually everyone.

How God Changes Your Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist

God is great-for your mental, physical, and spiritual health. Based on new evidence culled from brain-scan studies and a wide-reaching survey of people's religious and spiritual experiences, neuroscientist Andrew Newberg, MD, and therapist Mark Robert Waldman offer the following breakthrough discoveries: Not only do prayer and spiritual practice reduce stress, but just 12 minutes of meditation per day may slow down the aging process.

Understanding Other People: The Five Secrets to Human Behavior

Find out why book reviewers have said: "Everyone on planet earth should get this book." Listen, and you will find the tips and insights you need to understand what people are really saying when they talk to you, deal effectively with difficult people in your life, come across confidently in interviews, lead high performing teams, work effectively with almost anyone, take charge of your own actions and reactions, and finally, understand other people! Winner of the gold award by Readers Favorite for best book on relationships.

Life Unlocked: 7 Revolutionary Lessons to Overcome Fear

Both our conscious and more deeply embedded fears act as saboteurs in our lives, influencing us to make "safe" choices and limiting our ability to live happy, fulfilling lives. But imagine if you could learn how to take control of your brain’s instinctive response to danger. In Life Unlocked, Harvard-trained psychiatrist Dr. Srinivasan Pillay draws from cutting-edge research in neuroscience to show you how to do just this: to move past fear and unlock the potential of your life.

The God-Shaped Brain: How Changing Your View of God Transforms Your Life

Brain research has found that our thoughts and beliefs affect our physical, mental and spiritual health. Mind and body are interrelated, and we are designed for healthy relationships of love and trust. When we understand God as good and loving, we flourish. Unfortunately, many of us have distorted images of God and mostly think of him in fearful, punitive ways. This leads us into unhealthy patterns of self-defeating behaviors and toxic relationships. But our lives can change when God renews our minds with a truer picture of him.

Spiritual Practices for a Powerful Brain: Breakthrough Findings from a Leading Neuroscientist

Discover why God is good for your brain!Tap the power of the God-brain connection!Recent studies at the cutting edge of neuroscience have proven a startling connection between spirituality and cognitive function. In short: Under certain circumstances, spiritual practice can make your brain dramatically more powerful.

Mindfulness in Action: Making Friends with Yourself through Meditation and Everyday Awareness

The rewards of mindfulness practice are well proven: reduced stress, improved concentration, and an overall sense of well-being. But those benefits are just the beginning. Mindfulness in action - mindfulness applied throughout life - can help us work more effectively with life's challenges, expanding our appreciation and potential for creative engagement.

How to Practice Empathy: Connect Deeply with Others and Create Meaningful Relationships

This book will teach you what empathy is and how it’s different from other similar emotions and feelings. Learn how to have more satisfying relationships. Learn how to have relationships that enrich your life. Learn how to get closer with friends, family, and everyone around you. Learn why strengthening your connections can make you happier and more successful in all areas of your life.

The Fine Art of Small Talk: How to Start a Conversation, Keep It Going, Build Networking Skills - and Leave a Positive Impression!

Nationally recognized communication expert, keynote speaker and trainer, and best-selling author Debra Fine reveals the techniques and strategies anyone can use to make small talk - in any situation. Do you spend an abnormal amount of time hiding out in the bathroom or hanging out at the buffet table at social gatherings? Does the thought of striking up a conversation with a stranger make your stomach do flip-flops? Do you sit nervously through job interviews waiting for the other person to speak?

The Surrender Experiment: My Journey into Life's Perfection

Michael A. Singer, author of The Untethered Soul, tells the extraordinary story of what happened when, after a deep spiritual awakening, he decided to let go of his personal preferences and simply let life call the shots. As Singer takes you on this great experiment and journey into life's perfection, the events that transpire will both challenge your deepest assumptions about life and inspire you to look at your own life in a radically different way.

Mind Your Mood: Proven Steps to Control Your Mood Swings

Cognitive therapy has gained acceptance among mental health professionals as well as the public. Research studies have confirmed cognitive therapy to be critical for individuals suffering from anxiety, depression, and other problems. "Cognition" describes the ways you perceive events or things at any particular moment. These thoughts go through your mind automatically, without much control from your end. They have a huge impact on how you generally feel.

Silicon Valley Geek says:"Short but to the point. Great intro to Cognitive Behavior"

Avoidant: How to Love (or Leave) a Dismissive Partner

People in relationships with avoidants struggle with their lack of responsiveness and inability to tolerate real intimacy. Relationships between an avoidant and a partner of another attachment type are the largest group of unhappy relationships, and people who love their partners and who may have started families and had children with an avoidant will work very hard to try to make their relationships work better, out of love for their partner and children as well as their own happiness.

The Spiritual Brain: Science and Religious Experience

Does God exist? Do we have a soul? Is it possible to make contact with a spiritual realm? How should we respond to the divine? Will life continue beyond death?Most people, whether deeply religious or outright doubters of any spiritual power, have probably pondered these questions for themselves. In fact, the religious impulse is so powerfully pervasive that neuroscience has posed a provocative question: Are our brains wired to worship?

Small Talk Hacks: The People and Communication Skills You Need to Talk to Anyone & Be Instantly Likeable

Do you ever feel intimidated or out of place in social situations? Do you want to learn how to master the fine art of small talk? Do you want to develop a magnetic personality? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then this book was designed for you.

The Charisma Myth: How Anyone Can Master the Art and Science of Personal Magnetism

What if charisma could be taught? For the first time, science and technology have taken charisma apart, figured it out and turned it into an applied science: In controlled laboratory experiments, researchers could raise or lower people's level of charisma as if they were turning a dial. What you'll find here is practical magic: unique knowledge, drawn from a variety of sciences, revealing what charisma really is and how it works. You'll get both the insights and the techniques you need to apply this knowledge. The world will become your lab, and every person you meet, a chance to experiment.

The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma

In The Body Keeps the Score, Bessel van der Kolk transforms our understanding of traumatic stress, revealing how it literally rearranges the brain’s wiring - specifically areas dedicated to pleasure, engagement, control, and trust. He shows how these areas can be reactivated through innovative treatments including neuro feedback, mindfulness techniques, play, yoga, and other therapies.

The Discomfort Zone: How Leaders Turn Difficult Conversations Into Breakthroughs

Top leadership coach Marcia Reynolds offers a model for using the Discomfort Zone - the moment when the mind is most open to learning - to prompt people to think through problems, see situations more strategically, and transcend their limitations. Drawing on recent discoveries in the neuroscience of learning, Reynolds shows how to ask the kinds of questions that short-circuit the brain’s defense mechanisms and habitual thought patterns.

Communication Miracles for Couples: Easy and Effective Tools to Create More Love and Less Conflict

A lot of books about couples' communication give techniques that are too complicated to actually use, especially in the heat of the moment. Not so with the simple, powerfully effective methods in Communication Miracles for Couples. While the exercises are extremely simple and can be done in a snap, it is mastering these exercises that will transform the quality of a relationship. Whether two people are looking to enhance a good relationship or are deeply mired in problems, these techniques can produce miracles!

What Your Body Knows About God: How We Are Designed to Connect, Serve, and Thrive

Award-winning journalist Rob Moll chronicles the fascinating ways in which our brains and bodies interact with God and spiritual realities. He reports on neuroscience findings that show how our brains actually change and adapt when engaged in spiritual practices. We live longer, healthier, happier, and more fulfilling lives when we cultivate the biological spiritual capacity that puts us in touch with God. God has created our bodies to fulfill the Great Commandment.

Publisher's Summary

Sometimes it feels as if the more we talk, the less we are heard. But in groundbreaking research, Andrew Newberg, M.D., and Mark Robert Waldman have discovered a powerful strategy called Compassionate Communication that allows two brains to work together as one.

In 12 clear steps, Compassionate Communication actually changes our brain structure — as well as the brain of the person we are talking to — in a way that helps establish a bond between people. In this unique state — free from conflict and distrust — we can communicate more effectively, listen more deeply, collaborate without effort, and succeed more quickly at any task.

Using data collected from MBA students, couples in therapy, caregivers, and brain scans, Newberg and Waldman have seen again and again that Compassionate Communication can transform a difficult conversation into a deeply satisfying one, literally in a matter of a few minutes.

Whether you are negotiating with your boss or your employees, arguing with your spouse, or coping with your kids, Compassionate Communication is a simple and unbeatable way to achieve a win-win dialogue to help you reach your goals. With its clear prescription and proven results, Words Can Change Your Brain will change how you think and speak to virtually everyone.

You bet! This book has totally changed the way I communicate with others and I feel so much more connected to people. I am deliberately removing the word "no" from my vocabulary and I have chosen the word "calm" as my word. I repeat it over and over at night when I can't sleep sometimes. Just saying the word, spelling it out and repeating it over and over changes my heart beat and changes my thinking.

Have you listened to any of Mark Robert Waldman’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

No

If you were to make a film of this book, what would be the tag line be?

The power of "NO."

Any additional comments?

I just want to know who will use their compassionate listening skills on me. I need to talk sometimes, too.

This book could be interesting at times but if you've read other books like this about the brain - it's mainly the same information. What I couldn't believe was the narration! I read reviews about how the narrator's voice was annoying, but I was surprised to find that he almost sounds like he has a speech impediment when he's saying words with the "T" sound. I found that to be annoying and disruptive to listening.

I tried hard to like this book but ultimately found no redeeming value. The advice was sometimes ok, often impractical, and occasionally ridiculous. In a nutshell relax, look into the other persons eyes, and speak slowly. That's about it. Please save yourself respect, career and friendships by not following the more outlandish advice this book offers. Better yet, don't buy it at all.

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